Numbers 21:20

20 and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.

Numbers 21:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:20

And from Bamoth, [in] the valley
Or rather "to the valley", as the Targum of Onkelos, since Bamoth signifies high places; though, according to the Jerusalem Talmud F15, Bamoth, Baal, which seems to be the same place, was in a plain:

that is in the country of Moab;
the valley belonged to Moab, into which Israel came:

to the top of Pisgah;
not that the valley reached to the top, nor did the children of Israel go to the top of it, only Moses, but rather to the bottom, which indeed is meant; for it intends the beginning of it, where Pisgah, which was an high mountain near the plains of Moab, began, and which was properly the foot of it:

which looketh towards Jeshimon;
that is, Pisgah, as Jarchi rightly interprets it, which looked over a place called Jeshimon; and which signifies a wilderness, and is no other indeed than the wilderness of Kedemoth, ( Deuteronomy 2:26 ) for from thence the following messengers were sent.


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.

Numbers 21:20 In-Context

18 The well dug by princes And by leaders of the people, Dug with a royal scepter And with their walking sticks." They moved from the wilderness to Mattanah,
19 and from there they went on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20 and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.
21 Then the people of Israel sent messengers to the Amorite king Sihon to say:
22 "Let us pass through your land. We and our cattle will not leave the road and go into your fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from your wells; we will stay on the main road until we are out of your territory."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.